Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg is surprised to note the exclusions of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav from India’s T20 World Cup squad.
Both the wrist spinners were not in the best of forms in the last couple of years in the limited-overs format and they have failed to deliver consistently for the team.
Thus, both of them were not able to make the final XI on a consistent basis as Ravindra Jadeja was given his chance as he was delivering with both bat as well as the ball.
Furthermore, Rahul Chahar has impressed in his young career and he was picked ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal. Moreover, the selectors went on to pick Axar Patel and Varun Chakravarthy in India’s 15-man squad.
The Indian selectors also surprised everyone with the inclusion of Ravichandran Ashwin, who last played a limited-overs match back in 2017 against the West Indies.
Meanwhile, Yuzvendra Chahal’s exclusion was surprising to note as the leg-spinner is India’s highest wicket-taker in the T20I format.
Brad Hogg said while talking on his YouTube Channel, “I’m very surprised with the exclusion of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. The only reason why I think those two particular players are not in this squad is that they find it very hard to bowl into the wicket, they’re more floaty type bowlers and over in the UAE, when things are not turning, when there’s not much assistance in the pitch, you need those spinners who can bowl into the wicket.”
“If it was any place else in the world, one of those players would have been in the squad and it probably would have been Chahal,” Hogg added.
On the other hand, former chinaman spinner believes a fast bowler could have been included in India’s World Cup squad instead of Varun Chakravarthy. India has included five spinners in their 15-man squad for the T20I showpiece for the slow UAE pitches.
“I still think you need to go with three quicks in the lineup, Jadeja and Pandya as the fifth bowler and one frontline bowler. I think they could have gone with an extra quick and not go with Varun Chakravarthy. You have quality spin bowling in R Ashwin, R Jadeja and R Chahar, and Axar Patel as well who can do the job. I think they’ve gone too far with Chakravarthy.”
India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 24 in Dubai.
